Wednesday, September 12, 2012

The Greatest Man You've (probably) Never Heard Of

The phrase "The Green Revolution" sounds like it should be about pyrates killing whalers, or tree huggers killing loggers, or something, but it actually refers to the work of Norm Borlaug:

Make developing countries self sufficient in food by teaching them how
to use modern agricultural techniques that are easy to implement.
Borlaug spent most of his time in Mexico, Pakistan and India, and focused on five areas: crop cultivars (seeds), irrigation, fertilizers, pesticides and mechanization. His successes were remarkable.

Borlaug, "one of just six people to win the Nobel Peace Prize, the Congressional Gold Medal and the Presidential Medal of Freedom", was already in the process of making Third World countries self-sufficiant in agriculture when Paul Ehrlich wrote The Population Bomb; you know, we're all gonna die of starvation by 1999 at the latest.

Watermelon schmuck.

Anyway. A sign of Borlaug's wisdom:

More than 40 years ago Borlaug wrote, "One of the greatest threats to mankind today is that the world may be choked by an explosively pervading but well camouflaged bureaucracy."

No comments:

Welcome

Welcome to my Blog.

It consists of my thoughts on whatever I feel like sharing my thoughts about: popular culture; guns, shooting, self-defense and personal responsibility; Amateur Radio; literature; science fiction and fantasy; history; the Army and military affairs; beer, wine, and other Adult Beverages; food and cooking; current events; cats; and whatever else I feel like commenting on.

I will not be talking about my job--I don't know, offhand, what my employers policy is regarding blogs, and I do not intend to test it. It may not be the best job in the world, but it's the only one I have. I also have little interest in conspiracy theories...

Please Note: This is MY blog. I hope you enjoy reading it. I do not make any promises, however, not to offend you. I have no problem with dissent and/or disagreement, but please keep it polite, and rational.

William: "I'm sure we can all pull together, sir."Vetinari: "Oh, I do hope not. Pulling together is the aim of despotism and tyranny. Free men pull in all kinds of directions."Terry Pratchett, The Truth